Memorial Day Weekend of 1983 brought the latest installment of what we believed to be the conclusion of the “Star Wars” series with “Return of the Jedi.” George Lucas’ third installment featuring Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher serve to satisfy audiences left hanging by the second movie of the Epic series The Empire Strikes Back. Why does “Return of the Jedi” still resonate five decades and Beyond after it was made?
Several reasons for Return of the Jedi success
Not the least of which is: we get some resolution to the fact that we’ve learned in “The Empire Strikes Back” released two years earlier that the evil Darth Vader is actually Luke Skywalker’s father. Sure, it takes nearly 2 hours to get there in “Return of the Jedi,” but the ending of Vader’s dastardly character not being able to stomach the Emperor killing his son (Luke) in front of him is the twist that we all needed.
We get other resolutions as well, as we find out that Leia is Luke’s sister and therefore, free to have romance with Han Solo. This as the two of them have had on and off romantic tension over both the first two, “mega films.”
Never mind the fact that Han’s had to overcome being “carbon frozen” at the conclusion of “The Empire Strikes Back” and he’s actually hanging on the wall of Jabba the Hutt, the organized crime lord, for an undetermined amount of time. That’s until in the beginning of the third installment, Han is finally “unfrozen” and is being rescued by Leia, C3PO, R2D2, Lando Calrissian and of course, the Luke, himself.
There’s further resolution that the Empire is now allegedly destroyed, once and for all, as is their Death Star (that’s twice in three films, if you are keeping track).
We’ve seen Hamill’s Skywalker come of age from being just a teenage boy in the first film to going through a humbling and difficult beginning to his training as a Jedi in “The Empire Strikes Back” to now in this movie, realizing that he’s become one of the badass leaders of the rebellion.
A Happy Conclusion
All of this while being introduced in the third film to a furry band of Ewoks on the planet Endor that would become an overnight marketing and financial boon for sales of the stuffed animals, etc. after the release of “Return of the Jedi.”
Yes, there’s so much to like and feel good about, including Luke, Han and the giant “wookie” Chewbacca receiving medals in the climatic scene for the good that they’ve done.
Always remember that the summer Olympics were looming in the United States for 1984 with the USA expected to dominate. So, the medals in “Return of the Jedi” were a quiet foreshadowing.
The biggest measure to the success for “Return of the Jedi” is the massive $475 million it made in at the box office that Summer, which adjusted for present inflation in the present (2020s) is a staggering $1.4 Billion.
